


The Perfect Nanny

by Katalina_Riddle



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-10
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-25 15:04:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17727479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katalina_Riddle/pseuds/Katalina_Riddle
Summary: After losing his wife, Remus' life is in total disarray. Teddy is acting out and getting out of control, and he doesn't seem to be doing anything right. But then one day, a perfect stranger shows up on the doorstep. Could she be the answer to everything?





	The Perfect Nanny

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [True_Loves_Wolf_2019](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/True_Loves_Wolf_2019) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
> AU in which a Muggle Remus raises Teddy by himself and hires a nanny. There's something...magical about her.

“Oh, sweet mother of everything holy,” muttered Remus under his breath. “ _ Teddy!  _ Get  _ down  _ from there  _ right this minute! _ ” He stood with his hands on his hips, a look of total despair on his face. The aforementioned Edward Lupin, affectionately known as Teddy, had clambered up into the loft and was now hanging from the rafters upside down. He fervently shook his head.

“I don’t think so, dad.”

Remus felt his temper rising. “Edward Remus Lupin,” he said in a quiet voice, “come down here.  _ Now. _ ” Teddy stared defiantly at his father from his upside down position and seemed ready to argue, but then thought better of it and scrambled down from his high perch. Remus sighed in relief. He had to remember not to go too hard on Teddy. It had only been a few months since his wife had passed away. They were both suffering.

Teddy stood as tall as his little legs would let him stretch. He puffed out his chest and folded his arms. He was a proper little man. Remus held in a grin. For a boy of seven, he was extraordinarily self assured. Remus knelt down so he could look his son in the eyes.

“Teddy. You need to listen when I call you,” he said gently. “You could have hurt yourself just now. No more climbing up there, alright son?” Teddy’s bottom lip began to tremble. He nodded wordlessly and hugged his father’s neck. Remus sighed sadly, the emotion rising in his throat. She had always known what to say to Teddy, his Nymphadora. He detached himself from his son.

“Now, Teddy, be a good lad and go and set the table for dinner.” Teddy, looking pleased that his father had entrusted him with responsibility, ran off in the direction off the kitchen. There was no doubt about it. He looked like her. Remus ran a hand through his unruly mop of hair and turned back toward his study.

He had just sat down in his comfortable chair and his book on Ancient Rome, when a loud crash from the kitchen saw him fly from the room. He stopped in a mixture of horror and relief when he saw Teddy, shaken but unscathed, standing above the shattered remains of a china soup tureen. At the same time, the doorbell rang. Remus flung his hands up in resigned despair, picked up the shell-shocked Teddy and marched to the front door. He flung the door open and there, fist clenched to continue a constant barrage of knocking, was Sirius.

“Come in, and take this,” Remus commanded bluntly, as he dumped the now blubbering Teddy unceremoniously in the arms of a surprised and semi-reluctant Sirius and headed back to the kitchen with a broom and a mop.

Sirius’ voice echoed down the hallway. “Come on in Sirius, how  _ lovely  _ to see you. Well, don’t mind if I do Remus,  _ thank you _ . How  _ are _ you Sirius? Oh just peachy, Remus, just  _ peachy… _ ” and this one sided monologue of the conversation that never was continued until Sirius’ voice finally faded into the welcome distance. Remus cleaned up the broken china and sighed in sad contemplation. Tonks would have known what to do.

In the living room, Sirius was being forced to sit through what looked like the most boring physics lecture in history, judging from his sour facial expression. Sirius and small children didn’t really mix well. (“Just you wait, Sirius,” Remus would always say, “you wait until you have one of your own. Ten you might change your mind.” The response was always the same. A mighty bellow of laughter.) Teddy was excitedly giving Sirius the rundown on his rather large car track and showing off the latest additions to his collection of toy cars to go around said track. Remus grinned from the doorway. Sirius mouthed two words in his direction. “ _ Save me. _ ”

“Alright, Teddy,” Remus said gently, “go upstairs and play for a few minutes. Let me talk to your uncle, alright mate?” He tousled his son’s hair lovingly as Teddy ran past his father. It wasn’t until he heard Teddy’s thumping from upstairs that he allowed himself to slump down into a couch and hold his head in his hands. Sirius grasped his shoulder with a comforting hand.

“I can’t do this, Sirius. Tonks always knew what to say, what to do, but I can’t do this without her…” his voice trailed off in emotion. He looked at his best friend desperately. “Help me Sirius. Tell me what to do. I don’t  _ know  _ what I should do right now. I don’t know how to raise my own son.” With no hesitation at all, Sirius had an answer.

“ _ Hire a nanny. _ ”

oOo

_ Required: One nanny. Firm authority, required to live on the premises and assist with the day to day running of the house. Must be kind but able to take charge and show initiative. Contact Remus Lupin… _

The rest of the advertisement had been scratched out of the paper. Hermione groaned.  _ Crookshanks. Silly cat.  _ Oh well. This might just take a little longer. “ _ Avenseguim _ ,” whispered Hermione, flourishing her wand at the clawed advertisement. She watched it rise into the air and flutter out the window.

She followed the crumpled slip of paper as it flitted this way and that on a winding journey through the back roads and alleyways of London. And then suddenly, it stopped. It floated in the air for just a second, before draping itself over the door knocker of a modest but perfectly respectable terraced town house. She appraised the subtly pretty Georgian architecture before approaching the door and rapping the bronze knocker smartly against the heavy wooden door three times.

The noise met her ears before she caught any sight of them. A man’s rushed footsteps down a hall, followed by the unhappy wailing of a child. Her charge, she assumed. The door opened, and a tall, lanky, slightly confused man stood there. He leaned on the door frame to get some of his breath back. She looked him up and down him in the brief seconds of silence waiting for him to speak. He was a little on the thin side, but not terribly so. Thick waves of brown hair framed a striking face, and piercing eyes portrayed both a kindness and intelligence that she found rather attractive. She took this image in before quickly realising that he wasn’t going to say anything.

“Hermione Granger. You must be Remus Lupin,” she said as she offered a hand, which he accepted and shook. She prompted him a little further as he maintained his look of confusion. “I’m here about the position for a nanny? This  _ is _ the advertisement you placed in the paper, is it not?” Remus took the torn little slip of paper from her hand.

“But...I didn’t give my address. Just a phone number.”

Hermione, knowing full well there was no provided address, smiled sweetly at him. “Well how else could I have got here?” Watching the confusion turn into puzzlement as he scrutinised what was left of the advertisement, Hermione grinned inwardly. Poor man. A child screaming down the hallway was too great an assault on her senses for Hermione to ignore.

“Excuse me,” she said, as she squeezed past Remus and down his corridor, leaving him in a state of shock. (“She just  _ invited herself in _ ” _ ,  _ Remus would later exclaim to Sirius). Approaching the boy, who appeared to be around nine years old or so, Hermione waited until he noticed she was there. He stopped screaming and looked at her. She took her opportunity.

“Well,” she began in a firm tone, “I thought there was a hyena down this hallway. Is that any way to behave when there are visitors in the house? Now, young man, you will go upstairs this instant, brush your teeth and get out of those pyjamas. Don’t bother coming downstairs until you are wearing decent clothes and a smile. Now, off you pop!” Teddy, gawped at her. Hermione shooed him up the stairs and looked around the living room. It was a mess. Toys were strewn around the room, piles of books were filling tables and taking up floor space, food scraps littered the couch and a musty smell filled the air.

“This simply will not do,” said Hermione to herself. She turned to Remus. “I shall stay in the spare bedroom. We can settle the financial particulars at a later date. I will require Sundays off, as well as Thursday evenings.” And with that, she picked up her small bag and turned toward the stairs, leaving a still silent, still shocked Remus Lupin behind her. Her back now towards him, she allowed herself a rather smug little smile.

_ This was going to be fun. _

oOo

“Mate, she just  _ waltzed on in  _ and marched up the stairs...even if I had  _ wanted  _ to say no, I doubt there’s anything I could have done to stop her!” Remus stood in his now very clean kitchen recounting the tale of how he acquired the new nanny to Sirius. “You know what else was funny,” he said as with a furrowed brow, “I didn’t put my address on the advertisement.”

Sirius, his mouth stuffed with chocolate cake at this point, completely uninterested in the conversation, shrugged. “And?”

Remus rolled his eyes. “How did she know where I live, idiot.”

It was right at this point, Hermione strode in purposefully. “Mr Lupin. Young Master Lupin has been showered, dressed and changed, and would now like you to tuck him in. He’s waiting upstairs.” Remus’ eyes almost bulged out of his head in shock.  _ His  _ child was actually ready for bed  _ early _ ? Sirius’ eyes were also bulging, but for a different reason. Remus punched his friend in the arm.

“So,” ventured Remus as they climbed the stairs, “what’s your secret?” Hermione turned to him with wide eyes.  _ My goodness one could get lost in those eyes,  _ thought Remus. “Secret? There isn’t a secret. I just asked him nicely. Maybe it’s because I’m a woman,” she said, extremely unconvincingly. Remus let it go. As they parted ways at Teddy’s door, Hermione tapped Remus on the shoulder. He turned around. “You know,” she said softly, “you have a wonderful little boy in there. You should be proud of him.” To his astonishment, he saw tears well up in those deep brown eyes. As she turned to enter her room (that she technically hadn’t been invited into, but he forgave her), his eyes followed the prim, graceful figure. There were layers to this woman. He turned the door handle and went in to Teddy’s room.

Teddy was lying in bed when Remus entered. Tired eyes were being widened to try and stop himself from falling asleep. Remus took a seat on his son’s bed and put a gentle hand to his head, ruffling his hair affectionately. “Hey Teddy,” he whispered. “I’m pleasantly surprised to see you in bed already.” Teddy nodded, and when he spoke, his voice was full of awe and childish wonder. “Dad, did you know Hermione is magic? She sang me a magic song and said some funny words and I felt so tired. She’s so awesome,” he breathed.

Remus did not portray anything but the sincerest interest in his son’s idea that the nanny was magic. Because of course she wasn’t. Inwardly, he grinned. “Well, I was thinking we might keep her around for a bit longer,” he said. “What do you think son?”

Teddy smiled sweetly as his eyes began to close. “Yes please, dad. She would be a really...cool...mum…” and he fell into the world of dreams.

Remus felt his heart skip a beat at the word so innocently spoken by Teddy.  _ Mum.  _ And from her position listening at the keyhole ( _ very unprofessional _ , she later admitted), Hermione felt her heart skip too, and she brushed away a single tear rolling down her cheek.

Just one word, and she loved that little boy.

_ Mum. _


End file.
